Warning Signs: New Report Outlines the Impacts of Proposed Budget Cuts to Climate and Environmental Research

March 16, 2018

Summary

Check in soon for briefing highlights.

The Novim Group, in partnership with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, held a briefing discussing a new report on the environmental and societal impacts of the Administration’s proposed climate and environmental research program cuts for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. Congress must act on funding the remainder of FY 2018 by March 23. Given that the Administration’s FY 2019 proposed climate and environmental cuts are quite similar to those in the FY2018 budget, the briefing also highlighted the similarities and differences between these two budgets. The briefing's speakers, who helped author the Novim report, gave an overview of its findings and conclusions.

The Administration’s FY 2018 budget proposed $7.8 billion for federally-funded climate and environmental (CE) R&D, a roughly $2 billion or 21 percent reduction in CE R&D between FY 2017 and 2018, with significant reductions to most of the 13 agencies in the climate and environment portfolio.

The Novim Group report was developed by a team of science and policy leaders who have served in Republican and Democratic administrations. The report informs policymakers and the broader community of the risks and impacts to the nation’s economic, societal, and environmental security and leadership if these climate and environment R&D cuts become a reality, including:

dismantling programs that provide the scientific foundation for agencies to protect effectively the health, economic prosperity, and safety of Americans;

breaking the continuity and integrity of longstanding and future observations and research infrastructure needed for climate and environment modeling;

reducing our ability to train the next generation of scientists, resources managers, and decision makers who can work together to translate science into effective climate and environment policies and approaches;

degrading the U.S. Global Change Research Program; and

diminishing the nation’s ability to meet legal and international climate and environment commitments.

The 125-page report provides a summary of the proposed FY 2018 reductions and an agency-by-agency detailed analysis. The complete report can be found at www.novim.org/projects/budget.

The Novim Group is a nonprofit scientific research organization committed to its role as an independent, non-advocacy source of data, providing clear options to the most urgent problems facing humanity.